I really need some help here.
For the last few weeks, Kenzie has really been fighting the crate at bedtime.
She used to whine a few times then finally settle down, now she will whine/bark and carry on for 20-30 min. Last night I finally got up thinking maybe she needed to go potty, she did. But when I tried to put her back in same thing for another 20 minutes. Finally let he out again and played for a few minutes and back into the crate, finally she settled down right away and went to sleep for a full 5 hrs, I let her out to go potty (she did) and back into the crate and started whining/barking again.
I finally caved in and got her up on the bed and she was content to just lay there and chew on a bone for another 2 hrs until I had to get up, I really don't think she went back to sleep.
The crate is in my room next to my bed
I did try to wait until she was at least quiet for 5 seconds before opening the crate when she was acting up
My lab sleeps in the bed, not sure if she is influenced by that, but I was really hoping she (& any future dogs) would be crate sleepers
Any ideas? I really need sleep

Liza is fine in her crate, but in my house it is DH who tells me she is too big for it. And of course it doesn't help that Tess doesn't sleep in a crate anymore. So we have two Kurandabeds in the bedroom, one for each dog. The first two nights Liza was a bit confused, but last night she went up with me and slept until 5.30, when I had to get up. She still goes in her crate during daytime, when I have things to do, but at night she seems very contend on her bed. It is rather funny though, to see the two of them sleeping there. My bedroom is really cold, so both girls lie under a down comforter....

I think in your post, you have the answer. You said you put her in, and let her out again to play, before you put her in. Right there you are setting her up to play, they become creatures of habits very fast. Now, she will cry until you play with her again.

When Brady was about 8 months, we went a way for a long weekend. My brother-in-law would come get Brady at 5:00 am to go play with his golden in an empty field. When we came home, for the next four days or so, at 5:00 am, guess who was crying because he wanted to play.

Sheldon sleeps on his very large big boy bed next to me on the floor.
For me I make him stay awake for 3 hours before bedtime and he is exhausted goes
right to his bed and sleeps til 6 - 7 am
Maybe just getting your pup tired before bedtime will do the trick.
I do use the crate when we go out and he goes in there with his filled kong

I think in your post, you have the answer. You said you put her in, and let her out again to play, before you put her in. Right there you are setting her up to play, they become creatures of habits very fast. Now, she will cry until you play with her again.

.

I agree with you 100%, but what are you supposed to do after 20-30minutes (really not exaggerating) of constant loud barking/whining when you are exhausted?
I really am unable to just ignore it because if the splitting headache that comes right away

We're also having the same kind of problems here. The past 3 or 4 nights our boy has been great, but last night he had another bad night again and barked/whined for a long time even after being taken out to potty 3 times. He usually settles if I sit with him for a few minutes but I don't want to start a bad habit of him relying on me sitting there everytime. Have tried lots of things - blanket on crate, t-shirt, snuggle pup, leaving tv on etc.. Any other suggestions would be great. He's perfect in there in the day, and is even in there now napping with the door closed and no problem.

I agree with you 100%, but what are you supposed to do after 20-30minutes (really not exaggerating) of constant loud barking/whining when you are exhausted?
I really am unable to just ignore it because if the splitting headache that comes right away

Hi, we just went through (are going through) this same thing. Laika's a little younger than your Kinzie, but I think it's really the same concept. We had her crate in our bedroom thinking she'd be soothed by our breathing at night, but it really just wasn't working out at all. She would cry to be let out to go potty 2x a night when our breeder said she can definitely hold it all night. We were going insane from the lack of sleep, and also since we live in a condo building, thought it wasn't fair to disturb our neighbors like that. So at the recommendation of our breeder, we moved her crate outside to the living room, or really as far from earshot as possible. Now she goes down at 9-10pm, and is in there until 5:30am. She whines a little at first, but settles really quickly because she's figured out that whining will get her nowhere. In the morning, around 4:30am, I can hear a little whining too (that is her ideal wake-up time) but we just ignore her until 5:30, and by then she's back asleep.

We're thinking once she's more reliable potty-wise and has proven that she can sleep through the night without waking us, we'll let her return to our bedroom without the crate. I've found that being in a crate sometimes makes them whine more than if they were just hanging out on the floor, but it's necessary right now to prevent accidents overnight. Neither dog is allowed to sleep with us, so she will have to make do with the dog beds.

Have you tried covering it? (I cannot remember from your post)
Have you tried telling her to stop?

If all this fails, i would suggest moving it to a different part of the house and letting her cry it out.

I always potty Bear before bed, but now that he's been given bed privileges on the weekends, he's a brat when it is time to go be crated at night. I make it a happy trip, good night kisses, see you in the morning, here's your favorite treat. Cover it up with a blanket and off to bed.

You might also try to wear her out completely so she is too exhausted to work herself up. An extended play date does this for us.

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